Norwalk suspends use of brine pre-treatment for rest of winter (police recordings attached)

By ROBERT KOCH Hour Staff Writer

Published
7:11 am EST, Monday, February 2, 2015

Hour photo/Alex von Kleydorff

Eric Hente-Molinski died in a multi-vehicle accident involving his Porsche 928 on East Avenue Wednesday.

Hour photo/Alex von Kleydorff

Eric Hente-Molinski died in a multi-vehicle accident involving his Porsche 928 on East Avenue Wednesday.

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Hour photo/Alex von Kleydorff

Eric Hente-Molinski died in a multi-vehicle accident involving his Porsche 928 on East Avenue Wednesday.

Hour photo/Alex von Kleydorff

Eric Hente-Molinski died in a multi-vehicle accident involving his Porsche 928 on East Avenue Wednesday.

Norwalk suspends use of brine pre-treatment for rest of winter (police recordings attached)

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NORWALK — The city of Norwalk has halted the use of brine road pre-treatment for the remainder of the winter season, according to Mayor Harry W. Rilling.

“We made a decision for the rest of this year, we won’t be using it. We’ll be using other treatment methods instead,” Rilling said. “It’s just a decision to be prudent.”

Rilling suspended use of the brine pre-treatment on Jan. 22, a day after reports of numerous accidents on Norwalk roads following use of the material.

“We’re just going to see if they can make any determination whatsoever as to anything that might have contributed to accidents, especially the one on East Avenue,” Rilling said at a press conference Jan. 22. “We’re also suspending the use of the brine, for now, until we can make these determinations. We want to make sure that we’re doing everything safely.”

On Jan. 21, Norwalk Police responded to 15 accidents of which six may have been related to the pre-treatment of roads in advance of anticipated snowfall in the evening, according to Police Lt. Paul Vinett.

A 76-year-old city man died about five hours after crashing his Porsche late that morning near the intersection of East Avenue and Wall Street.

Asked Monday if the brine pre-treatment was behind any of the accidents that occurred Jan. 21, Rilling said, “the law department is working on that.”

Prior to the suspension, the city's Department of Public Works used Envirobrine and currently has about 1,500 gallons of the material at its garage on South Smith Street, according to M. Jeffry Spahr, deputy corporation counsel in the city's law department.

Spahr stressed that the Envirobrine arrives to the city pre-mixed.

"That's important because is shows there was no error in any of the mixture," Spahr said. "I haven't done an analysis as to what other DOTs or DPWs use Envirobrine, but I'm assuming that this is something that's used statewide by other municipalities. That being the case, what we're doing is consistent with what everybody else is doing."

Director of Public Works Harold F. Alvord said Monday that his department has not used the brine since Jan. 21 and “we’re not using it until we complete looking at everything we did the first time … and how other communities are using it.”

Road salt was used to prepare Norwalk streets for Monday’s mixture of ice and snow, according to Alvord.

“We called our guys in (Sunday) night at 8 o’clock and we pre-treated with salt,” Alvord said. “We’ve been clearing about since 4 o’clock this morning.”

Police scanner traffic on Jan. 21 related slippery conditions on some streets to the pre-treatment. The Hour requested and obtained audio files of the scanner traffic.

“Just be advised, it’s most likely the ice treatment that they’re putting on the roads down here as well,” said one officer in the audio obtained by The Hour.

Another scanner communication addressed slippery conditions on East Avenue.

“Advise DPW that East Avenue, at Cemetery Street, is extremely slippery. In fact, I spun out there but didn’t hit anything, and they need to sand it or something otherwise there’s going to be a (accident), because of the stuff they put on the roads.”

On the morning of Jan. 22, the city applied the brine to a test area at Calf Pasture Beach in an effort to recreate the driving conditions the day before.

Vinett and Norwalk Highway Superintendent Chris Torre then drove the test area. Vinett said he drove on both treated and non-treated surfaces in the test area.

“There was a difference but a minor difference,” Vinett said. “I was trying to make the car lose control and I was able to maintain control at all times. The most significant difference was going from a stop and accelerating too fast. If I accelerated too fast, the tires would spin.”

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